


For Love Is Everlasting

by orphan_account



Series: Another story line of the Vampire AU [4]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Because I love the Swiss riviera, But also a reunion, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:17:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22269070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: When they re-established their dream world, Stephane decided to step down for 'personal commitments', and made the last choice in his life.It's a long way home, to his beloved.
Relationships: Stéphane Lambiel/Christopher Trevisan
Series: Another story line of the Vampire AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602937
Kudos: 2





	For Love Is Everlasting

_Come with me/Where chains will never bind you/All your grief/At last, at last behind you_

_Lord in heaven/Look down on him in mercy/Forgive me all my trespasses/And take me to your glory_

_Take my hand/And lead me to salvation/Take my love/For love is everlasting_

_-Finale, Les Miserables the Musical_

Stephane stood up from behind his desk and stretched. His office was now mostly empty, as he slowly started to return the documents either to the archive or to the relevant members of the provisional cabinet. He had just finished the report on public security, had a final discussion with the acting minister, a young werewolf, and wished him good luck. The sun had gone down, and Deniss had dropped by his office, asking him if he needed a lift home. Stephane declined his offer, saying that he still had something to pack up before he officially leaves the building.

An envelope was sitting on his desk. Stephane opened the envelope, took the piece of paper out and read it again.

It’s his letter to Deniss. He didn’t really want to tell everyone his whereabouts, but he felt that he had to tell Deniss. After almost a hundred years living and fighting together for a common goal, there was an emotional bond between them. They were effectively family members.

He finally placed the letter back into the plain white envelope, the same type used by everyone in this building for internal mails. He wrote down ‘D. Vasiljevs’, shut the computer down, and gently closed the office door behind him.

It wasn’t that late, so there were still people working and having meetings as Stephane walked down the corridor. He bumped into a couple of acquaintances along the way, and they hugged him and wished him a good time after leaving the committee. He smiled and thanked them, and finally reached the reception area, where he dropped the letter in the mail box. Deniss would find it when he comes into office the next morning.

He walked through the square in front of the building now temporarily hosting the whole cabinet-in other words, the entire central government-and turned back to take a good look at it after crossing the main road. The building was not the original one as he remembered, but it was at the exact same place.

He remembered sitting through a couple of meetings and debates many many years ago, when he was still a young human. He remembered Chris delivering the speech or defending his point. And he would never forget the days when he was repeatedly called in and the attempted negotiations.

There were so many memories just in this building. There were happiness and pains, the breakdown of their dream world and the reestablishment of another system, which pretty much occupied his whole life.

He smiled and slightly bowed his head, as if paying respect to that very place, and turned left to walk to the train station.

He took an evening train from Lausanne. He had just missed the peak hour by staying in his office for a little while longer, and managed to find a relatively empty carriage. It was a regional train, calling at almost every small station along the way, which would take about one and a half hour to get him to the final station Montreux. He looked outside the window, let his mind wander freely as the little houses and tall trees flew past. He had taken this route many times in the early years, from Lausanne to Montreux. It started as him visiting an acquaintance at his home, and it was pretty mad to know someone still stayed in a castle. He wouldn’t expect it to become their shared home at some point, and he started to commute to and fro from here every summer, for fifteen years.

He alighted at the terminus, took the staircase all the way down to the lakeside and walked along the shore. Even after all these years, he still vividly remembered watching a winter sunset in the castle, with Chris. He was sitting right next to the window, while Chris dragged a chair all the way to the other end of the room and watched it there, trying to avoid as much sunlight as he could. Only when it became completely dark, did Stephane realize half of the window was blocked by him. Chris might have not really seen the sun setting, but him watching the sunset.

He stood on the bridgehead when he reached the castle, looked out to the building in the lake for a while, but didn’t cross the bridge. He knew there were some plans to open the castle to the general public, but not yet. It should be still locked. Given that it had been more than a hundred years since he last set his foot in this place, and he had long lost the keys to the gate, it wouldn’t be sensible to attempt to get in.

Instead, he took the stairs which led him to a small rocky area at waterfront. It didn’t have the most impressive scene near the castle, but it was somewhere he held dear. It was at this place where they had some evening barbecues in the summer, avoiding full-moon nights, with a group of close friends. It was at this place when he and Chris sat down together under the moonlight or starry sky, listening to each other’s breath mixing with the sound of tranquil water.

Just at the waterfront, there was a low wooden jetty extending to the south of the lake, and he slowly walked onto the walkway. It squeaked under his steps, clearly signaling the walkway is in need of a repair.

He sat down at the end of this old and dilapidated structure, pulled his knees to his chest and rested his chin on them. There weren’t any clouds in the sky, allowing him to see all the stars. It was actually a beautiful night.

Time stopped to be important now. The church bell stopped after striking ten, and the town just across the lake started to go into dark. He decided to just let his mind go, without thinking anything in particular.

Stephane was surprised when he saw someone sitting down beside him. With a vampire’s enhanced senses, he should be able to hear anyone walking down the walkway, especially now since it was so squeaky. But he didn’t. Maybe he was so deep in his thoughts.

He was even more surprised when he turned to figure out who it was. The person looked identical to Chris, but it shouldn’t be him. He knew his lover passed away a long time ago, and he even witnessed it. For a moment he suspected that it was just another dream. But it wouldn’t be a bad thing for him to dream again of his late lover, on his own last night.

“Chris?” Stephane called him in a very low voice, as if being afraid to wake himself up from the dream.

“Steph.” Chris smiled, “Last decision?”

“I thought it would be hard to make.” Stephane tentatively leaned over to him, and tilted his head over when his shoulder actually touched something. “But it was…really easy when it comes to that.”

Chris didn’t say anything, but wrapped an arm around Stephane’s waist, just as they used to do many years ago: at night, near the waterfront, under the starlight.

“…If you want to know,” Stephane continued, “We made some improvements-hopefully they’re improvements-to the original system. There were no more boundaries in this country. There’s no specific Inter-Species Team anymore, since it’ll be mixed everywhere. We…they’ll be working on this to bring the best integration.”

Chris nodded and discreetly found Stephane’s hand, lacing their fingers together, “Anything about you?”

“Myself…”Stephane looked up into the dark-blue sky, “You might know I chose to turn into a vampire, when I was forty something? Or in my fifties? I couldn’t really remember those details, but it was a long time ago. Deniss did it with Carolina’s help. By the way, he is now the spokesperson, which is just amazing, considering how much he had grown and matured in these years.”

“It was difficult in the beginning. I didn’t know you can hear, smell and see so much, and it took a month for my brain to get wired for this.” Stephane said very slowly, “I was kind of a mess in that month, also with all strange and intense emotional moments.”

“But you did it.” Chris pressed his hand to Stephane’s chest.

Stephane sighed. “I still have to say, it made a person stronger, but also more vulnerable at the same time. I know I wouldn’t have to worry about normal injuries and many other things which can kill a human, but I need to guard myself from sunlight. The forests were friendly, but not the open fields.”

He had many correspondences and contacts over the whole world during their struggle, and he didn’t have to be leading a battle or appearing personally in most situations. In the very early stages, he had Koshiro to help; after the human returned to Japan to help Shoma with their own fight (and stayed safe until he naturally passed away at a ripe age), he established contact with more and more local groups across Switzerland and Europe.

“The time you took is unbelievably short.” Chris commented, “In just slightly above the hundred-year mark? You know the treaty itself took a good fifty years to negotiate, starting with everyone representing species already on good terms.”

Stephane shook his head. “The foundation is there. After that period of time, it’s much easier to find people with less prejudices and more open-mindedness. Once they see the light, they’ll be in constant chase for it.”

Chris looked back to the direction of the city, which was still soundly asleep. “I can’t deny that statement.” He pondered for a moment, “It’s reassuring to know that people-at least a part of them-are happy to see this. I’ve occasionally been thinking if we were forcing things onto them.”

Stephane turned and gently turned him around, so that he could directly look into Chris’s green eyes. They were exactly the same as he remembered. “I have to say, in the beginning, you bring a change, and…there will be some like-minded people, but many would naturally refuse to change the way they’ve been living and thinking. It’s difficult to begin. But…well, when they understood it’s not that difficult to live with people who are different, everything start to change. And it’s not reversible.”

Chris raised a brow. “Interesting argument. I guess your point is that we had to force something in the very beginning?”

Stephane smiled. “I wouldn’t use that word, but you get the idea. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

They stopped talking, and decided to cherish the last moment before sunrise. The town opposite had gradually started to light up, as there are always people who had to get up early. Early morning shifts, long-distance commutes, and vampires who had to reach their workplace before sunrise.

“I’ve actually been really confused about one thing.” Stephane said slowly, “I’ve only seen you twice all this years. The last time was during my transition, which I assume was the death of the human body. And today. Are they dreams? Or is it some kind of…virtual reality-type illusion not seen in human?” The person beside him felt so real, with his breaths and heartbeats, flesh and voice. With the passing time, Stephane wondered if his brain could still create such a person from memory, exactly as when they were together. The dark blue color is gradually fading away, and he knew the daylight would soon follow. Whatever Chris’s answer would be, it wouldn’t matter.

“It might be a dream last time, but it could also just be your mind doing something strange when the vampire blood changed everything. I didn’t have that much anecdotes from successful transitions to tell. This time…it’s not a dream or illusion.” Chris let him to lean in closer, “If I have to explain it, think about somewhere between the living world and eternity? You’re now kind of at the intersection of them.”

Stephane nodded. That’s why he could still see the city, the towns and the lake; but at the same time, his late lover was beside him to share this night and guide him.

“One last question.” Stephane asked softly as the first light appears from the horizon, “How much does it hurt?” He wasn’t really afraid of this. In fact, it’s hard to imagine anything could worse than the transition; but he didn’t want to have zero mental preparation and scream when the sun hits him, which could potentially wake people up.

Chris smiled. “I don’t know. We don’t have a single chance to survive under direct sunlight, but…it kind of depends on your...thoughts? Perception? Of…how much you don’t want this. Sorry if it wasn’t useful at all.”

Stephane pondered for a while, but he didn’t want to think how much it must hurt for Chris. “Will you stay for a little longer?” He finally persuaded himself not to fret too much, but it will be easier if Chris could be here.

“I’ll be with you, but,” Chris dropped a kiss on his cheeks and stood up, “shall we go now?”

It was a very warm kiss. It shouldn’t be from a vampire-although Chris wasn’t technically a vampire now.

Stephane put up a bright smile and extended his arm towards Chris. The other man laughed and pulled him up, and they took a step towards the lake.

Stephane stopped and looked back to where they were sitting, and realized the small package of his necklace had fallen on the walkway. He didn’t turn back to pick it up.

“I’ll have you and Him with me from now on, will I not?” He looked forward, and realized the sun had risen above the lake. Surprisingly he didn’t feel any pain, or even a burning sensation. And they were standing on nothing-the walkway had ended a few steps behind. They were literally standing on air.

“You will.” Chris squeezed his hand, “Don’t worry about your biological identity. It won’t matter anymore from now on.”

They walked towards the sun, hand in hand.


End file.
